I received a call about participating in a survey regarding my Voom service tonight. It was approximately 15 minutes of survey and they covered almost every possible complaint I have seen anyone have with Voom. From OTA reception to the value of HD Exclusives, it was all in there.
I was rather vocal about my chief complaints: changes in price structure and a signal that can't take the weather of eastern NC. And coming from a DirecTivo environment, there's just too much missing without a DVR.
I also brought up my post-installation woes:
I still consider myself a Voom customer since they owe me quite a bit of money. I loved the picture quality--loved it. I thought the HD movie channels were not much less entertaining than HBOHD or its contemporaries. All have far too few movies in rotation any given month.
I told the survey rep the bottom line for me. If I could get a more reliable signal and the level of DVR functionality I had from Tivo, I would keep Voom as long as it existed.
I spent this year finding what the best HD option was for me. I've been on cable with their Scientific Atlanta DVR. I've had a DirecTivo and a separate Samsung TS160 HD DirecTV receiver. I've been on Voom. I loved Voom's content because there was more HD. Cable isn't bad for HD locals, but half the channels I care to see are sent on the analog signal and look horrible on any larger TV. The cable DVR was horrible, lacking even simple scheduling conflict resolution and completely devoid of any of the nicer Tivo features like season passes or wishlists. If you have to know when the show comes on to tell your DVR to record it, you just have a VCR replacement and that's all Scientific Atlanta offers now. Many people that went with DirecTV did so because of football. I don't care a thing about the NFL, so that's not keeping me there.
The DVR is the killer app. No matter how you slice it, most channels have their best content on in the same few hours each night. Being able to sit down and see the best of TV whenever I want justifies the amount we all spend on TV. I don't let anyone else dictate my schedule, why would I let my TV do so? DVR is that important to a lot of customers out there. And the superficial and shallow attempt at a DVR that Scientific Atlanta has out there through your local cable company is no replacement for Tivo.
I could spend $1k on the HDTivo now, but I am still hoping that Voom comes through. Voom has all the channels I want and many that are exclusive. Its only problems are in poor content decisions, which seem to be getting better, and horrible accounting practices. I'd much rather pay money leasing a *good* Voom DVR than on the HDTivo. The lack of viable resale has made buying a Voom DVR a fool's errand.
This isn't the angry rant of a disgruntled ex-customer. This is a plea for Voom to do the right thing and get its ducks in a row. I would gladly deal with having to pay the install fee to get Voom back if this were all available. The new price structure is too high but I'm sure the market will get them back in line before they get the DVR ready.
If you get a survey call, please stress the importance of signal strength and the DVR. It is ridiculous that anyone at Scientific Atlanta misunderstood the important features of a quality product so completely. You would think they could have spent $1000 and picked up an HDTivo and gotten the knock-off a little closer. I hope Voom's is closer to the product it should be.
P.S. In my local area, the PQ wars have only one loser: cable. I have seen absolutely no sustained PQ differences between DirecTV and Voom. Even with DirecTV crowding up the transponders and supposedly downrezzing the picture, it is still not a problem for me. Your mileage may vary.
I was rather vocal about my chief complaints: changes in price structure and a signal that can't take the weather of eastern NC. And coming from a DirecTivo environment, there's just too much missing without a DVR.
I also brought up my post-installation woes:
- I have been billed twice since cancelling
- I have received no reimbursement even though I cancelled on Aug 2
- my receiver, picked up on Aug 3, was just marked as having been received two weeks ago
- It took me more than a month to get a person to talk about the incorrect billing on the phone
I still consider myself a Voom customer since they owe me quite a bit of money. I loved the picture quality--loved it. I thought the HD movie channels were not much less entertaining than HBOHD or its contemporaries. All have far too few movies in rotation any given month.
I told the survey rep the bottom line for me. If I could get a more reliable signal and the level of DVR functionality I had from Tivo, I would keep Voom as long as it existed.
I spent this year finding what the best HD option was for me. I've been on cable with their Scientific Atlanta DVR. I've had a DirecTivo and a separate Samsung TS160 HD DirecTV receiver. I've been on Voom. I loved Voom's content because there was more HD. Cable isn't bad for HD locals, but half the channels I care to see are sent on the analog signal and look horrible on any larger TV. The cable DVR was horrible, lacking even simple scheduling conflict resolution and completely devoid of any of the nicer Tivo features like season passes or wishlists. If you have to know when the show comes on to tell your DVR to record it, you just have a VCR replacement and that's all Scientific Atlanta offers now. Many people that went with DirecTV did so because of football. I don't care a thing about the NFL, so that's not keeping me there.
The DVR is the killer app. No matter how you slice it, most channels have their best content on in the same few hours each night. Being able to sit down and see the best of TV whenever I want justifies the amount we all spend on TV. I don't let anyone else dictate my schedule, why would I let my TV do so? DVR is that important to a lot of customers out there. And the superficial and shallow attempt at a DVR that Scientific Atlanta has out there through your local cable company is no replacement for Tivo.
I could spend $1k on the HDTivo now, but I am still hoping that Voom comes through. Voom has all the channels I want and many that are exclusive. Its only problems are in poor content decisions, which seem to be getting better, and horrible accounting practices. I'd much rather pay money leasing a *good* Voom DVR than on the HDTivo. The lack of viable resale has made buying a Voom DVR a fool's errand.
This isn't the angry rant of a disgruntled ex-customer. This is a plea for Voom to do the right thing and get its ducks in a row. I would gladly deal with having to pay the install fee to get Voom back if this were all available. The new price structure is too high but I'm sure the market will get them back in line before they get the DVR ready.
If you get a survey call, please stress the importance of signal strength and the DVR. It is ridiculous that anyone at Scientific Atlanta misunderstood the important features of a quality product so completely. You would think they could have spent $1000 and picked up an HDTivo and gotten the knock-off a little closer. I hope Voom's is closer to the product it should be.
P.S. In my local area, the PQ wars have only one loser: cable. I have seen absolutely no sustained PQ differences between DirecTV and Voom. Even with DirecTV crowding up the transponders and supposedly downrezzing the picture, it is still not a problem for me. Your mileage may vary.
